Sleek but definitely not Stylish
by mgtragoedia
Summary: Kamen Rider Gaim: (Pre-series) Hideyasu Jonouchi will do almost anything to fulfill his dreams. To be fair, his dreams are pretty hard to fulfill.


**So apparently, we don't have a category for Gaim yet, which is utterly _tragic. _I'll get around to editing this eventually, but if you can spot a few errors, please tell me. Cool?**

Hideyasu Jonouchi always followed two principles. First was to know what you wanted. When he was seven, his elementary school put a play. His part was small, just a few lines and a smile. But when his mother's disposable camera flashed (something she'd bought just for the occasion) and his father looked at him, barely showing his weariness, with a proud smile on his face, he knew he'd never forget this moment.

The second principle was to get what you wanted, by any means necessary. For all of his dickishness, Kaito had a point. The world isn't kind (bad things happen to good people, again and again and again, till good people have to become smart people). And Jonouchi had long accepted that. If he was going to make it to the top, if he was going to make people look at him, snapping pictures and gazing in admiration, he had to be smarter than anyone. He had to plan ahead. Account for every scenario and take whatever measures he found necessary.

He never cared for making friends. In a world where everyone betrayed one another, he wouldn't do something as stupid as trusting someone else. What he wanted were admirers, all that he needed were admirers. He fills up the empty slots in his team (dancing was all passion and emotion, where people admired him for _him,_ not some role he was given to play) with people who think he's gorgeous, people who think he's the most intelligent person they've ever met, people who think he's better than them.

He plans their big debut meticulously, wearing a sweater that'll draw the most attention, making designer glasses (something he's never even had dreams of wearing) their main thing. They draw attention, lots of it, but not for the reasons they hoped. Videos of some of his teammates tripping, of himself a few seconds out of sync with the others circulate around the internet (with commentary always available).

It's not restricted to the internet, though. While he gets more than a few nasty customers at his job, it's undeniable that their high school members get it worse. Several of the girls quit the team, returning their glasses, crying as they apologize.

He gathers the remainder at Druper's a month after the incident. It's relatively new, with private rooms and parfaits to die for.

"Invitto" he says, barely a few bites into his dessert. His voice comes out louder than he expected, drawing the attention of the dark-haired teenager at the register.

"Unconquered." He repeats the word, this time in Japanese. Jonouchi adjusts his glasses and looks at every one of his teammates. They nod.

The topic soon shifts to actual dancing and they talk about venues and practice times till it's dark outside and they're the only customers left in the shop. He realizes, as he phones for a cab, that it's at least an hour past closing time. He shoots a look at the only employee, the cashier who was non-subtly eavesdropping on them the entire time. He doesn't seem to notice, too busy fiddling with his studded bracelet. Jonouchi clears his throat and is more than a bit disappointed to be met with a grunt of acknowledgement rather than some over-the-top surprised reaction.

He waits for the man to say something, explain why he let them stay way past closing, but gets nothing. This man, Jonouchi decides on the ride back, is either the most mysterious person he's ever met or the stupidest.

He meets him again, nine months later, onstage. He looks like a 90s reject (Jonouchi notes distastefully), with his hair combed back and wearing a leather jacket. He's surrounded by his teammates, also in leather, who dance pretty well for a new team.

He approaches him under the pretense of sportsmanship, casually bringing up their brief meeting at Druper's. The dumbass doesn't even remember, and has the nerve to ask if they had been spying on him! It's not like Jonouchi's never spied on an opposing team before, but he didn't spy _this time_.

(Jonouchi later recounts the story with him walking out with his head held high.)

(Nobody believes him.)

It's a few more months till Raid Wild (Jonouchi made a note to prevent that man from ever naming anything again) makes it into the top ten. With Team Invitto's position, which had been holding steady at eighth place till then, in danger of dropping, Jonouchi decided to do what he was accused of doing not long ago, spy on the idiot with the leather fetish.

Within two weeks, Jonouchi knows everything there is to know about Ryoji Hase. He knows that he sleep on his stomach with his limbs spread out, that he schedules team training before sunrise, that his favorite video game was Kinect Star Wars, and most important of all, that he could be used.

He starts out simple. He spends every Friday afternoon at Druper's, claiming a corner booth to ensure a decent visibility and vantage point from Hase's preferred spot, and always ordering an extra parfait (with added fruit).

He continues to abide by this ritual every week for the next two months to no avail. He's about to call this angle quits, when one day, Hase shows up, without his wallet. To give him credit, he realizes it quickly enough, before even ordering, and Jonouchi gets his chance.

He offers to pay for his parfait, only offering a smile in response to Hase's confused look. Still, free food was free food, and Hase quickly took him up on his offer.

"So, Hase-chan" he says, elongating the honorific. "I heard your team's been doing well lately."

For a second, Hase looks like he's going to start making a fuss, but decides that sweets are more important and chooses to say nothing, finishing his parfait in record time.

Jonouchi accompanies him to pay the bill, reaching for his wallet, only to realize that he also forgot it. He gives Bando his most winning smile.

"How much work do we have to do to pay this off?" He grabs Hase's arm, mentions something about teaching him the value of teamwork, and believe it or not, Hase goes along with it.


End file.
